Thread: Answering challenges to calling S.1639 "amnesty"

Matthew Spalding, Ph.D., wrote:

The Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007 resembles the 1986 amnesty in several ways. Like that law, it would grant amnesty to individuals unlawfully present in the United States. That its effect would be "amnesty," which its proponents deny, is proven by its provisions:

* Only illegal aliens are eligible...

* Legal status is immediate...

* Immigration laws are set aside...

* Eligibility leads to permanent residence. Probationary Z visas could be valid for years [and are renewable]...

* Amnesty is unlimited [in number of persons]...

There should be no doubt that the current legislative proposal is an amnesty. Like the amnesty bill of 1986, the current Senate proposal would grant legal status to those who have resided illegally in the United States...

Full text here.

"You know, I've heard all the rhetoric -- you've heard it, too -- about how this is amnesty.
Amnesty means that you've got to pay a price for having been here illegally,
and this bill does that," Pres. Bush said [on Monday].